Google Avoids a Breakup of Its Ad Tech Business as Judge Backs Remedies

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Google must make changes to address its advertising technology monopoly but will not have to break up that business, letting the company stave off the most extreme measures to curb its power.

What the judge decided

Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, issued her sealed decision after finding last year that Google broke the law to protect its dominance over the largely invisible system that places ads on pages across the web. The ruling was previewed in a short order posted by the court.

The Justice Department had asked the court to force Google to sell off parts of its business, which it said was necessary to check the company's power. The judge declined. She instead ordered Google to change its business practices to benefit competitors, though she did not provide specifics.

The third failed breakup push

The decision ensures that Google's power over the internet will be largely unchanged as the company moves to dominate a technological era defined by artificial intelligence. Despite two federal court rulings in major government lawsuits declaring the tech giant a monopolist — the other in search — judges have not ordered significant structural changes to its $4.1 trillion business.

A small business for Alphabet

Analysts said forcing behavioral changes will likely have a limited effect on the company overall. Google's ad tech business brought in $30 billion last year, about 8 percent of revenue for parent company Alphabet. Its ad tech revenue has declined for 16 straight quarters, and analysts estimate it accounts for less than 1 percent of the company's profit. "This is a business no one cares about," Richard Kramer, senior analyst at the investment advisory firm Arete Research, said before the ruling.

"We're very pleased the court rejected the D.O.J.'s proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow," said Lee-Anne Mulholland, a vice president of regulatory affairs at Google. A spokesperson for the Justice Department said its antitrust division was "pleased that the court ordered substantial relief" and was "evaluating appropriate next steps."

What happens next

The government filed the case, U.S. et al. v. Google, in 2023 over an intricate network of programs that sell ad space around the web, including Google Ad Manager, which runs split-second auctions each time a user loads a web page. The judge agreed Google held a monopoly over the tools used by publishers and the technology connecting them with advertisers, but said the government failed to prove illegal conduct in the tools used by advertisers. Both sides now have up to 14 days to request that confidential information be redacted from the sealed ruling; after that it will be released publicly. Google has said it plans to appeal.